Things In Life
by ChildOfWisdom
Summary: A series of One-Shots that show what Risa and Conner do in their lifes. Things that are not in the books! 1: Being in a wheel-chair isn't as simple as it seems. It's stressful, it's frustrating, it...it takes some getting use to. She doesn't like the special treatment everyone is giving her. Conner doesn't like to see her work so hard. What will he do to make her feel better?


**CONNER**

Risa was a busy person. Not that I just noticed that but today more than the others, I saw how tired she looked at night before she went to bed. She had her own room but sometimes she would sleep next to me in my bed (no, we don't do anything). Today, she came to say goodnight, gave me a kiss on the cheek and wheeled herself to her own room. I noticed how her long brown hair was stuck to her face; the bags under her brown eyes, how tired she was that she couldn't even wheel herself anymore. She was the senior medic in the medical jet; talking care of not only the injured AWOLs, but telling the other nurses what to do. She also played the piano with all the other musically talented kids when a new plane with AWOLs came. She also had to go on her routine therapy, which were getting better and better. She was always there in all the meetings, wheeling herself up all the ramps Hayden and him had set up everywhere.

But it's not like she didn't have help. He had seen countless people offer to push her to where she needed to go, or to do things for her, but Risa always said no. Maybe it's because she's too independent…or maybe it's because she stubborn. Out of all the people in the world, why did it have to be Risa to be confounded to a wheel-chair? Sometimes, Conner wished they doctors hadn't asked Risa if she wanted a spine or not. He wished they had just operated her. But then he thought about how selfish he sounded.

Risa wasn't that selfish. She was braver than he would ever be. She said _no_ to the operations. She would have rather not walk again then to take an innocent person's spine. She was a hero. And it hurt him to see her so tired. The other day, he had woken up earlier than her, which was rare, and he was about to wake her up but he couldn't bring himself too. She looked like an angel sleeping so calmly, so he didn't wake her up. Of course, he faced her wrath when she did wake up and found out she was late. But it was worth it.

There suddenly was a knock at the door and Conner jumped from his bed and opened the door, thinking it was Risa…but it wasn't. It was Hayden.

"Hey, man!" Hayden greeted with those insane smiles of his.

I sighed and opened the door wider to let him in and I noticed that he had a stack of paper in his arms. Oh, great.

Hayden walked towards a desk I had in the corner of my room and he turned the chair around and sat down. I sat down on my bed, waiting for him to start talking which he did. He was telling me the amount of food we had and that we needed to get more, about a new shipment of incoming AWOLs that would arrive in a few days, and how Risa had told him that they needed more medical supplies for the medical jet.

"Wait…Risa told you this, and not me?" I asked him, interrupting whatever he was going to say next.

"Uh, yeah. You were busy with something so she told me. Why, is the Akron AWOL jealous?" He smirked.

"Hayden, shut up before I get rid of your that smirk of yours permanently." I threatened him.

But the fact that I threatened him made him smirk more. It's a good thing I'm getting used to Hayden, because if not I don't know what I would have done.

"No need for that, Mr. Nice Socks. She was going to tell you, but you were kinda far away and she looked exhausted. It ain't easy wheeling yourself through the hot desert sun from plane to plane." He said as he looked through the stack of papers, trying to find something important.

But his words stuck on to me. _It ain't easy wheeling yourself through the hot desert sun from plane to plane._ Risa was strong and everyone here knew that. But…everything has its limit. Conner feared that Risa would have a break down or become so exhausted she couldn't do things anymore. He didn't want that.

"Hey, Hayden…would it be bad if we gave Risa the day off tomorrow?" I asked him.

Hayden looked up from his papers and thought about it for a minute. "They wouldn't be bad at all. She needs it. Hey, can we get more cans of Spam?"

**[The next day]**

I forced myself to wake up and get ready before it was six thirty in the morning because that was the time that Risa usually got up. I walked towards her room to see her fast asleep on her bed. Her long brown hair was spread around her pillow like a halo, making her look more gorgeous than usual. Conner slowly walked over to her alarm clock and disconnected it. I knew she only had this as a backup because Risa naturally always got up at this time, but with how tired she looked yesterday, I was sure she would continue to sleep.

I pushed the wheelchair to the far end of the room, knowing she would hate me for this in the morning. Today, she was going to stay in bed. Hayden and I worked it out and we had it set up so that everything would be brought to her, breakfast, lunch, dinner, everything. I felt guilty and bad for putting her only means of transportation so far away from her, but it was for a good cause.

I guess I made too much noise because when I turned around; she was sitting up on her bed with her arms crossed.

"Do you mind telling me why you're in my room so early?" She asked.

Even in the dark, I could see that she could barely keep her eyes opened.

"Me? I'm not really in your room…this is all a dream." I said.

"Don't play around with me, Conner, not in the morning." She said as she reaches over and turns on the light.

She blinks a few times as she rubbed her eyes, getting used to the brightness of the light. I bet she sees the wheelchair so far away from her because she turns her gaze at me and she looks confused. I love her in the morning. She's so cute and innocent. If this was later on today she would have thrown a lamp at me or something. Her mind was still registering everything.

"I could have sworn I left my wheelchair near my bed…Conner can you pass me my wheelchair?" she asked.

I was starting to hate myself, because she looked so confused and lost. Her brown eyes still looked drained and exhausted. I walked over to her bed and sat down next to her, gently pushing her back down and shaking my head from side to side.

"No can do, Risa. Today's your day off." I told her.

"Day off? What? No. I can't have a day off, everyone else will be working and that would be unfair." She tells me as she tries to get up again but I push her back down.

I can tell she's starting to get angry.

"No, Risa. You've done a lot. You _do_ a lot every day, you help a lot of people…we all agreed that you deserve some time off. Just one day." I tried reasoning with her, but it wasn't working.

"Why? Why do I get a day off and you don't? Or anyone else? Is it because I'm in a wheelchair?" She asked me, her glare was so intense….

"No, it's not because you're in a wheelchair, Ris-"

"Then what's the other reason, Conner?! I bet there isn't one! This is _exactly_ what I knew would happen! I don't want you or anyone else having sympathy for me. I don't need you or anyone else babying me!" She practically yelled at me.

"I'm not babying you! Is it wrong for me to _care_ about you? Tell me; is there something wrong with that?! Just one day, that's all I'm asking for!" Now, I was raising my voice.

This isn't going well.

"I don't want a day! Conner, put yourself in my shoes! How would you feel like if you were suddenly bound to a wheelchair? I know I did the right thing by not talking that poor unwind's spine, but I don't want to be useless!" She yelled. "I don't want you to think I can't do anything anymore!"

I was going to say something, but she kept talking and I let her.

"I hate it when people look at me and feel bad for me. I don't want anyone to feel bad for me! I hate it when I can't reach something that's too high for me because I'm always sitting down. Something that I could have reached if I was standing up! I hate it when my arms hurt and it's not even the middle of the day. I hate it-," She said and by now there were tears in her eyes.

Hearing her say all these things was tearing my heart apart. I didn't know what she felt.

"-When sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night and I try to move my legs and I _can't_." She said as she wiped the tears rolling down her cheeks with the back of her hands.

When I looked at Risa she always looked so calm, confident, and defiant in her wheelchair. I would have never thought she felt the way she did. Maybe that's why she wasn't sleeping with me in the nights anymore. Because she didn't want me to see her like this, or maybe it was because she didn't want me to notice all the things she thought, or because she didn't want my help anymore.

I didn't say anything, I just wrapped my arms around her and pulled her into my chest. I buried my face in her hair and she buried her face in the nook of my neck. I held her tightly to me, even tighter when I felt tears rolling down her face again.

"Risa, you know I love you, right?" I told her.

I know I didn't say this to her as often as I should. I just kinda expected her to know this already and since I used to almost never say this to Ariana, I almost never said this to her either.

Risa nodded.

"Do you know that I love you more now? So much more?"

She shook her head.

"I'm sorry that I never thought about what you were going through. But you know that you're going to get better right? I heard what the doctors were saying in the therapy sessions, you're getting better. You're strong, and beautiful, and you're going to be ok." I told her.

"I know." She whispered.

"You're intelligent and independent. Sometimes I feel like you don't need _me ._That is why I'm always bothering you, as you put it. I just want to help you." I told her sincerely. "Remember that time we danced when you were playing the piano?"

She nodded.

"I felt so close to you. I always want to feel that way."

I felt her arms come up to me and wrap themselves around my neck. She placed her forehead to mine and kissed me. I've always loved it when she kissed me because I felt like I was on cloud nine or something crazy like that.

We pulled away and I held her close to me. Just like I had when we were both in the girl's bathroom in Happy Jack camp.

"You know this still doesn't mean you're going to work today." I whispered in her ear.

She sighed. "I thought as much. What am I supposed to do all day? Just sit here and do nothing?"

"No. I'm going to be your servant today. No, I'm going to be your genie." I tell her.

"My genie?"

"Yep."

"So, my wish is your command?" She asked me with a raised eyebrow.

Her eyes were red from crying and her cheeks were stained with tears, but she looked beautiful. No, gorgeous.

"Yes…just don't tell Hayden. Then he'll expect me to be his genie." I told her.

She laughed and I smiled as my goal was completed.

"Alright…then…I wish I could go back to work." She said.

"…"

**I ended it there because I didn't have more time to write, but you already know Conner is going to say no. Also, this is set to be after Unwind. I JUST started reading Unwholly, so my writing will change as I learn more and more about Risa and Conner's life in the Graveyard.**

**Review!**


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